This year we have been celebrating the 10-year anniversary of UW Law’s Graduate Program in Intellectual Property Law & Policy (“IP Program”). We would like to close this year of celebration by paying tribute to our outstanding teachers and shining a spotlight on several of them. These world class IP law experts help make the IP Program a world class educational experience.

IP Boot Camp. That's what the students call it, although the official course name is "IP Law Core." The "core" refers to core IP law fundamentals because the 8-credit class establishes the foundation for the rest of the IP Program. Dan Laster and Sean O'Connor, with their competing banter and wit, were the first to teach this class. Their pioneering interactive approach made the class highly engaging, seasoned generously with practical lessons from their own law practice experience

Dan is a former Associate General Counsel at Microsoft where he led its copyright and trademark legal group, including registering the famous "Windows" trademark, and now serves as General Counsel at PATH, a health care technology NGO. Dan has also developed and taught the Advanced Copyright Seminar and International Intellectual Property class.

Sean is a Professor of Law who spent several years in law practice and played in a rock band. (Sean continues to perform today with Judge Rader). Sean's entrepreneurial spirit led him to found the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic and he now serves as the Faculty Director of the Law, Business, and Entrepreneurship Program. He also teaches courses at the intersection of intellectual property and business law, such as Bio-entrepreneurship and the Law.

Insights from Copyright Scholars

UW Law is fortunate to have two excellent copyright scholars on its faculty. Kate O'Neill has published articles on copyright fair use and copyrightability of literary characters. She taught Copyright Law as a standalone course in the early days of the IP Program and has also taught Copyright as part of the IP Law Core.

Zahr Said joined the UW Law faculty in 2011 with a Ph.D. in literature. Her scholarship focuses on advertising law and the application of literary analysis to copyright law. She has been teaching Copyright as part of the IP Law Core and will teach the Advanced Copyright Seminar in the next academic year.

Taking Writing Seriously

What better person to teach writing than someone like Signe Naeve with a B.A. in English, a B.A. in Journalism, a J.D., and has practiced media and copyright law? IP Program students must complete a major research "thesis" paper. Signe guides them through this process. She teaches both the introductory and advanced legal writing courses for IP Program students and has done so for the majority of the IP Program's existence. One marker of the quality of the IP Program legal writing experience is that more than 30 student papers have been published in law journals and two of those publications have been cited by federal courts.

David Carlson, left and Karl Hermanns

Prosecuting Patents

Combined, David Carlson and Karl Hermanns have more than 50 years of experience. During that time they have been the patent lawyers for many of the innovators in biotech, computer, and telecommunications that have emerged from the Puget Sound region. UW Law is fortunate to have them teaching Patent Prosecution in the IP Program.

They are both partners (Karl is now the Managing Partner) at the Seed IP Law Firm, one of Seattle's premier patent firms.

Commercializing IP

Once you have a patent, then what? Having IP is useful, but even more useful is knowing how to monetize it. Maggy Bailly teaches a course that explores the wide variety of strategies for making money from inventions. She helps students explore the commercial context for
IP and understand how IP commercialization plays
out on a global basis. Maggie spent several years as
an in-house lawyer at the Boeing Company and now
has her own law firm that specializes in international IP transactions.

Litigating IP

Another pillar of the IP Program's faculty, Paul Meiklejohn's Patent Litigation class has a reputation
for being tough, but worth the effort. Paul's course is
an outstanding example of the way IP Program students benefit from an experience as close to law practice as
an academic setting can provide. Paul is a partner
at Dorsey & Whitney and is considered one of the top
IP litigators in the U.S. He represents clients from all
over the world as they litigate their cases in U.S. courts.

Considering Software Patents

One of the most controversial applications of patent law is in the software industry. Andy Culbert is the chief
patent litigation strategist at Microsoft Corporation,
which has been on both sides of patent litigation. He played a leading role in Microsoft's patent cases
that have come to the Supreme Court, including the
AT&T v. Microsoft case. Andy has shared his knowledge
with students in the Legal Protection for Software and
IP Survey courses.

Going Deeper into Trademarks

Mike Atkins has shared his trademark expertise with IP Program students in many forums. He's a regular teacher of a tutorial on Advanced Trademark law and has taught trademark as part of IP Law Core. Mike practiced trademark law for many years at Graham & Dunn and now has his own trademark law boutique firm.

The Law, Technology & Arts Group at the University of Washington School of Law
is an integrated academic unit that delivers education, research, and outreach on
the law's role in promoting and regulating innovation in technology and the arts.